The Hardy Boys Revisited
Today I came across this trailer for a movie on the Hardy Boys. And I went off on a trip down memory lane to my childhood days when the brothers, Frank and Joe, introduced me to exciting adventures, memories of which will remain to this day.
As a kid, I was a voracious reader. It started with the humble Champak, Tinkle, Archie and then Gokulam for quite some time.
Gokulam, I remember was a monthly magazine and that was one of the very few things that I really looked forward to as a kid. Every day I passed the south Indian store near our house, I'd keep my eyes peeled for a new issue on the display and make sure I got it the very next day. It's so fresh in my memory that I still remember a mystery story that ran across issues, called 'The 13th Window'. I don't remember what exactly happened in the story but I remember my almost fanatic efforts to have the entire story together in chronological order.
This then grew to Tintin and then over time to the thicker and more "serious" books. This meant the paperbacks, with no pictures and more like the books my dad used to read. There was this coming-of-age ring to it when I moved away for the kid books to more "mature" ones. There was a library nearby (Madhumilind Vachnalay it was called). Every Diwali and summer vacation, the first thing I would do is get a monthly membership there. And then I would cycle to the library to get my daily quota of books and then devour them right away. And the first of these mature books was the Hardy Boys.
Today when I think of it, the name itself sounds so odd. But in those days, the Hardy Boys was my gateway to a world of adventure, mystery and intrigue. And there was this allure of the brothers jumping headlong into adventures of every possible hue. Their adventures included ancient statues, mysterious islands and wild west encounters. Over time, these moved to more modern themes like solar car races, BMX competitions, espionage and such. But each book had a very unique theme and I happily immersed myself in each of them.
As a young boy, the teenaged Hardy Boys were the epitome of adventure and I dreamed of getting involved in something similar around my place. But sadly my neighbourhood was a far-cry from crime infested Bayport and all my ambitions of solving crimes remained unfulfilled. And sadly over time, books stopped being as much fun. Maybe because I grew up. And maybe that's why they say the childhood days are the best. Because you are so ready to believe.
Coming back to the books, there were changes over time and newer formats like the casefiles, adventures with Nancy Drew and such. But somehow the books continued enthralling kids across the globe. It does take something special to hold the attention of kids across geographies and generations. And it wasn't until much later that I realised the the author Franklin W. Dixon just didn't exist. It was a pen name! Today, I can only wonder on how multiple writers managed to uphold the legacy of the Hardy Boys, but my boyhood respect for the great author (who didn't exist) did take a dent.
And lastly, I don't why but every book explicitly mentioned the heights of the Hardy Boys, and somehow I ended up being exactly as tall as Frank Hardy, 6 feet 1 inch. I went though many more books including Nancy Drew (nobody told me it was for girls), the Famous Five and the Secret Seven but I guess the Hardy Boys will always be special!
Today I came across this trailer for a movie on the Hardy Boys. And I went off on a trip down memory lane to my childhood days when the brothers, Frank and Joe, introduced me to exciting adventures, memories of which will remain to this day.
As a kid, I was a voracious reader. It started with the humble Champak, Tinkle, Archie and then Gokulam for quite some time.
This then grew to Tintin and then over time to the thicker and more "serious" books. This meant the paperbacks, with no pictures and more like the books my dad used to read. There was this coming-of-age ring to it when I moved away for the kid books to more "mature" ones. There was a library nearby (Madhumilind Vachnalay it was called). Every Diwali and summer vacation, the first thing I would do is get a monthly membership there. And then I would cycle to the library to get my daily quota of books and then devour them right away. And the first of these mature books was the Hardy Boys.
Today when I think of it, the name itself sounds so odd. But in those days, the Hardy Boys was my gateway to a world of adventure, mystery and intrigue. And there was this allure of the brothers jumping headlong into adventures of every possible hue. Their adventures included ancient statues, mysterious islands and wild west encounters. Over time, these moved to more modern themes like solar car races, BMX competitions, espionage and such. But each book had a very unique theme and I happily immersed myself in each of them.
As a young boy, the teenaged Hardy Boys were the epitome of adventure and I dreamed of getting involved in something similar around my place. But sadly my neighbourhood was a far-cry from crime infested Bayport and all my ambitions of solving crimes remained unfulfilled. And sadly over time, books stopped being as much fun. Maybe because I grew up. And maybe that's why they say the childhood days are the best. Because you are so ready to believe.
Coming back to the books, there were changes over time and newer formats like the casefiles, adventures with Nancy Drew and such. But somehow the books continued enthralling kids across the globe. It does take something special to hold the attention of kids across geographies and generations. And it wasn't until much later that I realised the the author Franklin W. Dixon just didn't exist. It was a pen name! Today, I can only wonder on how multiple writers managed to uphold the legacy of the Hardy Boys, but my boyhood respect for the great author (who didn't exist) did take a dent.
And lastly, I don't why but every book explicitly mentioned the heights of the Hardy Boys, and somehow I ended up being exactly as tall as Frank Hardy, 6 feet 1 inch. I went though many more books including Nancy Drew (nobody told me it was for girls), the Famous Five and the Secret Seven but I guess the Hardy Boys will always be special!
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